Bat Festival Fate At Stake

Austin's Bat Festival may be no more if local businesses don't agree to sign the organizers' petition which supports the partial closing of Congress Avenue and the Ann Richards Bridge. The festival, now in its fourth year, is scheduled to be held Labor Day weekend and is expected to draw a crowd of 40,000 bat lovers. Festivities include 30 bands, kid-friendly activities, bat education, and, of course, plenty of bat watching as the bridge’s 1.5 million inhabitants take their nightly flight.

In order for festival organizers to obtain the necessary permits required to close down portions of Congress Avenue, the city requires that the promoter get a petition signed by 90% of the businesses that will be affected. Roadway Productions promoter French Smith was able to get all but two of the needed signatures (the lone holdouts being Your Living Room, a furniture store located on the south end of the bridge, and Sherry Matthews Advocacy PR - a business likely to be unaffected by the fest).

In the event that the promoter can’t get approval from the affected businesses, they can go to the City Council and ask that the requirements be waived. Council member Sheryl Cole has stepped in and sponsored the signature waiver, but yesterday morning the city postponed a decision in hopes that the event organizer and Your Living Room owner Gege Cordeiro could come to an agreement.

According to festival organizers, they have tried to work with Cordiero to accommodate any lost business that Your Living Room would face by offering compensation, secure parking, advertising, event sponsorship and free booth space at the event. Unfortunately, at this point it looks like Cordiero is unlikely to compromise and the festival may be forced to shut down entirely, leaving Roadway out the over $160,000 they've already spent for this year's event.

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By austinist_keb in News on August 8, 2008 2:00 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

ducknutz

We could lose the Keep Austin Wierd thing. I'd also like to see First Night have it's last night last year.

Grape Ape

So what events should stay - being there are so many, which do you propose we keep?

texasauteur

Yeah, I'm hoping this event gets cancelled too. There has been this proliferation of needless and alleged "Austin" events (which they are not) and festivals, Bat Fest and the Ice Cream Festival being two of them. The fact that the batgroup only gets 5-10k (and I'm going to assume near the 5k) while vendors rake in the dough is especially lame.

bumpymcghee

^^FUCK YEAH.....What he said......WELL DONE,TheTodd,WELL DONE.......

toddal

Get ready for more and more of this kind of Me First attitude people. The more and more people that move downtown and the more that the businesses cater only to them the more that they will be treating the area as their own personal backyard. Is it a coincidence that the store in question sells grossly overpriced furniture geared towards the glossy, buying on credit Condo dwellers? I assure you that the same anti-event sentiments are shared by many in that group who are..."tired of the events and festivals and races downtown all the time...their always closing the streets and waking me up in the morning with their announcements." What a bunch of self absorbed idiots! Lets hope with a little negative press from their stupidity the store will back down. Maybe I'll even stop by there today and give them a little talking to. I encourage you, good reader, to do the same.

bumpymcghee

FUCK....I hope it doesn't get shut down....I'm supposed to work security for that event,yo.....

batlady

Hey Benj - it may not be your scene but people, especially people with kids, love this event. Also, as I mentioned earlier, it isn't just the money for BCI (though 10k is considered pretty good for any event) but also the exposure to the media and the community and being able to have an opportunity to educate the public.

Benj

Hahahaha.

If we want all the new Austinites to take us seriously on what a 'cool' city this is... maybe we should consider nixing the bat parade. It's a kinda lame, yet another in a procession of such events masquerading as a benefit for a good cause.

I was neutral until finding out the bat people only get $10k. That's chump change for putting up with the obscene inconvenience of the event.

kenneth1

Is there a petition I can sign to show my opposition to closing the Congress Ave. bridge?

As a frequent bus rider, I am friggin' sick and tired of the street closings, detour and late buses that result from these "special events." It's every danged weekend, and they put the buses on different detours each time so you never know where they're running.

seth

On a related topic...

Last night I was pulling clothes off my backyard clothesline. They had been up there for a couple of days. I grabbed one t-shirt and felt the body of a small animal in there. It moved. I thought it was a rat or mouse that had traversed the clothesline, so I got my housecats positioned below to pounce on the laundry infiltrator. It was still moving around in the shirt when I grabbed the bottom of the shirt and yanked it to the ground. The cats were like, "WTF?!?!" As the shirt fell from the clothesline, the creature inside took flight-- it was a bat!

I showed the cats the shirt, motioning to a damp spot which looked like a collection of urine from the lounging bat. My most experienced hunting cat sniffed the spot, then looked at me with a knowing expression.

Seth

batlady

It should also be mentioned that the nonprofit Bat Conservation International, who benefits financially from Bat Fest, would be negatively impacted by its shutdown as well. Typically $5-$10k is donated to the org from event proceeds and retail sales. Additionally, this festival has a national draw and provides awesome PR and media exposure for BCI.

As a former person on the inside, I can tell you that the folks at Roadway have gone above and beyond to accommodate the YLR folks. This festival is literally giving them brand exposure to tens of thousands of people, but they can't seem to see the forest for the trees. This is sour grapes and I hope council will see the greater benefit of the festival to the public and to the benefitting nonprofit.

Grape Ape

SMA isn't really even on Congress and they'll be closed and what is YLR afraid of, not being able to see an over priced piece of furniture that day?